Mayor Adams Taps as Senior Advisor: Boro Park’s Joel Eisdorfer, Third Orthodox Jew to Join Administration

By Yehudit Garmaise

Mayor Eric Adams has appointed Boro Parker Joel Eisdorfer, a political askan and a longtime community leader, to serve as his senior advisor, Hamodia reported.

Eisdorfer has long ties to Mayor Adams, after working as a senior staffer in Adams’ office when the mayor was Brooklyn’s borough president and as a liaison when Adams served as a state senator for the 20th District. In Boro Park, Eisdorfer has volunteered for and served on the executive board of Boro Park’s Jewish Community Council (BPJCC), and as board member of Brooklyn’s Community Board 12, and many community leaders are grateful that he will provide a Boro Park link to City Hall. 

Assemblyman Simcha Eichenstein said Eisdorfer’s appointment was a strong display of Mayor Adams’ “commitment to providing a safe and equitable city for all New Yorkers, including the broader Jewish community,” said the Assemblyman, who added ”Joel is a personal friend and that is why I can attest that he brings a wealth of resources to this position.”

Eisdorfer, who is the first Chassidic Jew to join the Adams’ administration, has “a keen sense of understanding of the everyday interactions New Yorkers have with their government,” City Councilman Kalman Yeger added.

The Boro Park local joins two other Orthodox Jews whom Adams has named to serve in senior positions: Menashe Shapiro, the mayor’s deputy chief of staff and Fred Kreizman, who serves as the commissioner of the Mayor’s Community Affairs Unit.

NYPD Inspector Richie Taylor can attest that after working with Eisdorfer for more than a decade, the highest-ranked kippah-wearing police officer “has seen first-hand how caring, dedicated, and effective he is.”

“I couldn’t have a better partner than Joel and the people of New York City couldn’t have a better person who understands the needs of the Jewish community and all communities,” said Inspector Taylor. “Joel is a consummate professional who is all about public service and making government work for people. It’s an honor to call Joel my close friend and I look forward to accomplishing many more great things together with him.”

“It is a big thing for the Orthodox Jewish community that we will have a Chassidish adviser inside City Hall,” said Rabbi Sperlin, the executive vice president of the Crown Heights Jewish Community Council of Governmental Affairs, who pointed out how fortunate the community is to have three Orthodox Jews serving so closely with the mayor.

“We are incredibly fortunate for the Adams’ administration to be so interconnected with the Jewish community by having Eisdorfer serve in such a senior position for the mayor,” said Avi Greenstein, the CEO of the BPJCC. “Joel is not only brilliant, but devoted and down-to-earth. You can talk to him, and he listens. Then, he knows how to get things done, which goes well with Mayor Adams’ agenda.” 

Berish Freilach, a Boro Park askan, pointed out that although Adams has long been “an expert who is well-acquainted with Brooklyn: the largest Jewish community in the nation, the mayor’s Orthodox Jewish advisers can provide insight on the perspectives that can help the mayor on how to approach different situations that affect us.” 

When Freilach was asked whether having three Orthodox Jews working in such high positions for the mayor can help to avoid some of the unfortunate clashes that the Orthodox Jewish community had with city and state governments during the pandemic, he responded, “Definitely. I think now we can work on building better coalitions. No question about it.”